1085. GREGORY VII (Hildebrand), pope, died. He was the son of a
carpenter, and when raised to the papal throne embroiled himself in
disputes and dissensions till he was compelled to retire.
1153. DAVID I, king of Scotland, died. He married Maud, daughter of
William the conqueror, and is characterized as a mild and popular king.
1276. A capitation tax of three pennies laid on every Jew in England
above the age of 12 years, and all above the age of 7 to wear a yellow
badge.
1357. EDWARD the _black prince_, conducted his captive, John, king of
France, through the city of London, in triumph.
1430. JOAN OF ARC, after performing prodigies of valor, deserted and
alone, was taken prisoner by the English, after her horse was slain, in
a sally from Compiegne.
1543. NICHOLAS COPERNICUS, the great astronomer, died, aged 70. After a
constant devotion of 43 years to the study, he produced his immortal
work, _De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus_. The work was
excommunicated by the pope, and although the planets continued their
revolutions, it was not till 278 years after, namely, in 1821, that the
papal court annulled the sentence!
1551. VON PANNIS, an eminent surgeon of England, burnt to death for
denying the divinity of Christ.
1572. DRAKE sailed from England on his voyage of reprisal to the
West-Indies, against the Spanish.
1612. ROBERT CECIL, earl of Salisbury, died; an English statesman, the
ablest minister of his time.
1651. LOUIS XIV of France purchased of the West-India company, for the
benefit of the knights of Malta, the islands of St. Christopher, St.
Bartholomew, St. Martin and San Cruz, for the sum of 120,000 livres
turnois. (See August 10, 1665.)
1663. South Carolina erected into a separate province. First permanent
settlement began in 1669; original charter included North Carolina and
Georgia.
1686. An eruption of mount Ætna, which extended its ravages four leagues
around, and buried several persons alive.
1689. Passage of the well known toleration act of England, which so
greatly relieved the dissenters.
1692. Four days' action off La Hogue; the remainder of the French ships,
seven in number, and a great many transports and ammunition ships burnt.
1698. Pere GERBILLON, a Jesuit missionary, set out on his eighth and
last journey to Tartary, in the train of the Chinese grandees, sent by
the emperor to hold an assembly of the Kalka Tartars, who had been
several years in rebellion, and to regulate the affairs of the country.
(See April 1, Oct. 13.)
1715. WILLIAM READ died; originally a cobbler, became a mountebank, and
practiced medicine by the light of nature! Queen Anne and George I
honored him with the care of their eyes! He could neither write nor
read, but such was the success of his practice, that he rode in his own
chariot, and "dispensed good punch from golden bowls."
1775. JOHN HANCOCK elected president of congress; he succeeded Peyton
Randolph in that office.
1777. Colonel MEIGS made a successful attack on the British stores at
Sag harbor, destroyed 12 British brigs and schooners, and great
quantities of stores, and brought away 90 British prisoners, without
sustaining any loss.
1786. CHARLES WILLIAM SCHEELE, an eminent Swedish chemist, died. His
discoveries were numerous, though his experiments were made under great
disadvantages.
1792. GEORGE BRYDGES, lord Rodney, a celebrated British admiral, died,
aged 74.
1794. Battle of the Sambre, in the Netherlands, in which general Kaunitz
defeated the French, who lost 3,000 taken prisoners, and 50 cannon.
1798. Several battles were fought at different places between the
English troops and United Irishmen, in which the latter were generally
defeated.
1811. The Seringapatam, prize to the United States frigate Essex, capt.
Gamble, captured by the British sloop of war Cherub, at the Sandwich
islands.
1814. Pope PIUS VII, whose powers had been abridged by Napoleon, made
his grand public entry into Rome, to resume the throne.
1822. Battle of Pichinca, fought near the volcano of that name. The
Columbians under Sucre succeeded in gaining the vicinity of Quito by
marching over the frozen mountains of Cotopaxi, by which, and several
other daring movements, the Spaniards were compelled to hazard a battle,
and sustained a total defeat. The patriots thus became possessed of the
entire province, with all the Spanish magazines and stores, and the road
to Peru was left open to Bolivar.
1833. JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke, an American statesman, died, aged 60.
He was a descendant in the 7th generation, from Pocahontas, the Indian
woman who saved the life of capt. Smith, and was distinguished for
genius, eloquence and eccentricity.
1839. WILLIAM LEGGET, an American poet, and miscellaneous writer, died.
He was a man of talent, and employed by government as charge d'affaire
to Central America.
1844. JAMES THATCHER, a surgeon of the revolutionary army and author of
the _Military Journal_ and _History of Plymouth_, died at Plymouth,
Mass.
1845. WILLIAM RAMSAY died in Boone county, Mo., aged 104. Early a
pioneer and Indian fighter in Kentucky.